Lynna Williams, writer, associate professor of English at Emory University, and past AWP Board member, passed away on July 29 due to cancer. She was sixty-six.

After a career in journalism, Williams turned to fiction. Her book Things Not Seen and Other Stories was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and her short fiction appeared in The Atlantic, The Oxford American, and Crab Orchard Review, among many others.

Williams began teaching at Emory University in 1990 and served as the creative writing program’s second director, strengthening the young program by hiring writers like Natasha Trethewey. Trethewey commented on Williams, “Along with guiding me in navigating the university and developing my teaching skills, she also showed me paths into my own work.”

“Creative Writing at Emory will miss Lynna Williams,” current Emory creative writing program director Jericho Brown remarked. “She helped to build the foundation of our program, and she believed in our students as talented artists.”

Williams served on the AWP Board in the 1990s. “She represented the best kind of literary citizen,” said AWP Executive Director David Fenza. “She was a fine and very funny writer, a generous mentor and teacher, and a community builder.”

Photo Credit: Emory University